Graduate Program

Notre Dame students on the front lines of medical research

Published: August 24, 2016

Author: Arnie Phifer

New fellowships enable summer research at New York’s largest health system

Two Notre Dame undergraduate students—Anne Grisoli and Richard Felli—and two graduate students—Katelyn Ludwig and Steve Marczak—spent the summer of 2016 conducting laboratory and clinical research at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York. All four are recipients of the inaugural Precision Medicine Research Fellowships, which enable highly qualified Notre Dame students to live and work at one of the premier clinical research facilities on the East Coast.

The Feinstein Institute, which is part of the 22-hospital Northwell Health System, enrolls over 15,000 patients in more than 2,000 clinical studies each year. Through this new competitive program, students from Notre Dame who are interested in biomedical research have an unparalleled opportunity to experience such research first-hand and contribute to finding real solutions to pressing medical problems, ranging from lupus to sepsis to cardiac arrest.

“My research at the Feinstein Institute has been an absolutely incredible experience,” said Grisoli, who worked on neuroscience and immunology related projects in the lab of the institute’s president. “Dr. Tracey’s lab is a very inspiring, engaging, and collaborative environment, and the number of lab techniques and procedures I learned is shocking.”

Felli, who developed implants to study the effects of sepsis on the brain, added that "the work that is done at Feinstein is required to have relevance to the medical field. No matter whether you plan to become a doctor or a researcher, the program is a great experience."

The four Notre Dame students also had the opportunity to interact with over 100 students from other universities and medical schools, and they used the institute’s location on Long Island as a base for frequent trips into New York City.

The Precision Medicine Research Fellowships are a program of Notre Dame’s Advanced Diagnostics & Therapeutics (AD&T) initiative. They include a monthly stipend, reimbursement of travel costs, and housing. They are also one component of AD&T’s program in Precision Medicine, and its expanding network of clinical collaborators.

For more information about the AD&T’s Precision Medicine Research Fellowships, please contact Arnie Phifer at (574) 631-3057 or aphifer@nd.edu.

The University of Notre Dame is a private research and teaching university inspired by its Catholic mission. Notre Dame faculty, students, and staff engage in research, scholarship, education, and creative endeavor in order to advance human understanding and do good in the world.